Elephant Population in Vietnam Has Downsized to the Lowest Number in History

HTML clipboard D6729851B58B4E2F86AA01CD65C3E1BD .ExternalClass2B9E8AF2182B4472B5685F5F767EC055 p.MsoNormal { margin-right:0cm; margin-left:0cm; text-indent:34.0pt; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:'Calibri','sans-serif'; } D6729851B58B4E2F86AA01CD65C3E1BD .ExternalClass2B9E8AF2182B4472B5685F5F767EC055 span.longtext { } D6729851B58B4E2F86AA01CD65C3E1BD .ExternalClass2B9E8AF2182B4472B5685F5F767EC055 h1 { margin-right:0cm; margin-left:0cm; font-size:24.0pt; font-family:'Times New Roman','serif'; }     The figure has drawn much concern, especially when on March authorities confiscated 150 kilos of elephant ivory illegally transported to Quang Nịnh province, near to Chinese border.

        TRAFFIC – the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network – said the seizure significantly show illegal elephant ivory trade keenly happened in Vietnam as well as Southeast Asia. Wildlife animal Smugglers in complicity with crime organizations tended to traffic ivory from Africa to Vietnam and other countries in the region for domestic consumption or re-exporting to other countries in the region.

    The seizure happened when the countries affected by illegal elephant hunting took action against illegal elephant trade globally.

    Over 130 countries this week joined a debate over elephant ivory at the conference on Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Doha, Qatar.

    At the last week Doha Conference, General Secretary of the convention gave certificates to customs officials of Hai Phong Port to praise their efforts to fight against trade in Wild Fauna and Flora in Vietnam. (Hai Phong is transition point of illegal trade in wildlife species, where a great number of well-known seizures took place last year.)

L.H (N.Thuong)